(prw) -- Global packaging manufacturer Amcor has bought one of its supplier companies, B-Pack Due, a cast polypropylene film manufacturer based in Campiglia Marittima, Italy. B-Pack is part of the ┬130m Colines Holdings Group.
The move heralds expansion by Amcor into the cast PP market; Amcor's film business is almost exclusively based on blown production. The deal also includes Amcor signing an exclusive supply agreement with Colines, which manufactures film production equipment, covering large CPP lines.
⌠The exclusivity agreement, which covers large capacity lines, provides Amcor with protected access to a world-leading CPP manufacturing technology that will serve as a platform for anticipated further expansion in CPP films, Amcor said in a statement.
A spokesman for Colines said the detailed terms of the supply agreement with Amcor would not be disclosed. However, he made clear that it was a reciprocal arrangement - Amcor would only buy Colines large cast lines and it in return will not supply its large CPP systems to other film producers.
Melbourne-based Amcor paid ┬43m for B-Pack Due, which had sales in 2009 of ┬43m.
Colines Holding's B-Pack barrier film business and its IP structured packaging operations are not included in the Amcor sale. The B-Pack facility at Nibbia in Italy houses two 2-meter-wide cast lines (five- and seven-layer) and three blown lines (two five-layer and one seven-layer).
The B-Pack barrier film operation has a production capacity of around 15,000 metric tons per year and specializes in medical and food films. Together with the IP structured packaging business, it represents annual sales or around ┬50m.
MRC